March 30, 2011

I haven’t been paying much attention to the show Nurse Jackie. I have seen other work by the star Edie Falco and admire her as an actor, and I gather her current show is popular, though I haven’t seen it and I don’t know much about it. I vaguely wondered if it really had much to do with nursing or healthcare, and whether it presented any interesting issues, but, as I said, I wasn’t really paying attention.

Just now, however, I happened to open a magazine and find a full-page ad for the new season that began this week, featuring a large color picture of Edie Falco in her nurse’s uniform, and two thoughts popped immediately to mind: (1) “Nice tits!“; and (2) “Wait a minute . . .”

The ad shows her wearing a blue scrub shirt that is very obviously tailored to her body, tight around the waist, flared over her hips, and very tight and smoothly curved over her breasts. It almost looks normal, but was so obviously intended to be sexy that it took me only a few seconds to realize it wasn’t a real scrub shirt – it was a costume that was not only absurdly impractical for real hospital work, but was clearly carefully designed to emphasize her body. When I realized what was going on with the picture, it occurred to me as well that that didn’t seem to be the image I had gotten of the show previously. I remembered the first season ads as vaguely sinister, with Falco brandishing a syringe in what was also an unmistakable “middle finger” gesture.

I went back to find some of the earlier ads online, and the difference seems obvious to me. Look at these ad pictures, scanned from DVD boxes or print ads, from each of the three seasons up to now:

In each season, there are ads with her in blue scrubs and in a white nurse’s dress, often striking similar poses. But note a subtle but clear progression: The first season, they had apparently defined the character as tough or menacing; she looks grim, tired, and slightly threatening, her blue scrubs are a little tight but fairly normal-looking, and there is nothing sexy about her poses. In the second season, she’s perky, not tired, and seems more playful than menacing; she has a tan and the pictures are shot from eye-level rather than slightly above, which is less distancing. In the third season, they’ve apparently decided that she’s HotLips Houlihan: she’s wearing tailored scrubs with a gathered-in waist and tight bosom, her hairdo is just a little softer, she’s holding a pill, not a menacing needle, and in the white-coat picture, she’s sitting, not standing, with her dress hiked up and showing a lot of leg; they have also clearly airbrushed the perfectly natural lines on her face to give her a much smoother complexion, she seems to be wearing more makeup, and she’s got her arms splayed out to expose her chest in one picture, and her head thrown back kind of coquettishly in the other. (They really like that blue-scrubs shot: they’re running ads with different shots of the same costume, same wide-open pose, against at least two different backgrounds.) The differences are subtle (and easier to see in the original images, rather than the resized and pixellated ones above), but they can’t be missed – the tight shirt and bare legs especially are almost humorously cliched, and obviously different from the first season, while the increasing retouching and decreasing lines and wrinkles are clear, too.

Still don’t believe me? Compare these two head-to-waist shots of what are ostensibly the same blue scrubs, from Season 1 to Season 3:

It’s hardly surprising that they’ve sexed-up their ads to get more attention – I suppose it’s almost inevitable for an attractive female actor to be treated this way, even with a distinguished track record and a starring role in a popular show. But it’s annoying to so persistently and mundanely see every woman on TV made into a display model, and it’s annoying to see every female professional (in healthcare or otherwise) put into positions that shift the focus away from their professional roles and back onto their bodies. The HotLips comparison is not inapt: after decades of female professionals on TV, including many in healthcare-themed shows, this role seems to have come back around to a emulating – in a small way – a cliche character from 40 years ago (a role that was itself played by a famously strong feminist actor, who brought a lot of warmth and character into what had started out as essentially a sexual-harridan stereotype – but why do these women have to struggle so hard to redeem their roles?). What’s especially galling here is that the role apparently began as quirky, offbeat, and independent, and has been moved toward being a sexual tease. It’s insulting to nurses, to actors, and to women – a TV-hospital trifecta.

To be sure, the stuff above is far from the worst on TV. But that only underscores how unnecessary it is. I don’t really know what kind of character Falco plays on this show, but for whatever reason they’ve moved it – visually – a step closer to the “sexy Halloween-costume nurse”, and away from what I presume, or at least hope, would have been a true actor’s role with a complex human at its center. Nurses are already sexy – in the way that smart, accomplished women are always sexy – but real human beings are hard to get hold of and worth studying. Edie Falco is sexy, too, but much more than that; she can bring out the humanity in a role in a way that few can do. It’s a shame the show she’s on doesn’t seem to prioritize that.

Mixed feelings about this post. After all, such a reaction justifies what marketers are trying to do when they sex up actors, yeah? One’s less likely to take you seriously when you complain about it after the fact…

Blogroll:

Abortion Clinic Days
Useful and thoughtful blogging on abortion by a clinic counselor.Alas, a Blog
Feminist group blog with frequent focus on healthcare topics.Bush v. Choice
NARAL-operated blog focused on Bush administration’s anti-choice policies.ChronicBabe
Sassy support blog for young women with chronic illnesses.Culture Dish
Excellent sci/med/ethics blog by Rebecca Skloot, freelance science writer.DB’s Medical Rants
Rants on interesting medical topics, by an academic MD.Debitage
Nature, archaeology, and ethics.Effect Measure
Public-health blog by anonymous “senior public health scientists”.evangelical outpost
General-interest blog from a conservative, evangelical Christian perspective; run by Joe Carter, one of the most creative bloggers out there.Feminist Blogs
Aggregator of posts from feminist blogs. Excellent subject categories.Feministe
Feminist duo blog with frequent focus on healthcare issues; one of the sharpest and best around.Feministing
Feminist blog with good coverage of current events, including health-related issues.Fetch me my axe
Bold feminist blog with frequent commentary on sexual politics and LGBT issues.Frogs and Ravens
Sharp and insightful feminist blog by an academically trained historian, now writer.Future Pundit
Blogging about technology and the future – mostly biotech.Global Bioethics Blog
Bioethics especially regarding Southern Africa – by Stuart RennieHealth Law Prof Blog
Group blog by law-school professors on healthcare and health-law issues.Healthy Policy
Excellent discussions of healthcare issues by Kate Steadman.Hoyden-About-Town
Clever and sassy feminist blog with frequent healthcare focus.INERA: Scarcity Ethics
International Network for Ethical Issues in Resource Allocation – a discussion blog on resource allocation issues in healthcare.Kenneth Silber
Writings by New York sci/tech/medicine author Kenneth Silber.Lean Left
A liberal political group blog run by two great guys from Tennessee; Kevin T. Keith’s blog for non-healthcare issues.Life Studies Blog
“Philosophy of life, death, desire, technology and sexuality” – by Masahiro Morioka.Majikthise
General political blog with an interest in bioethics and health issues; blogged by talented young philosopher Lindsay Beyerstein.Media Girl
Woman-oriented mass-group blog on “media, politics, culture and feminism”.My Beloved Monster and Me
Beautifully written blog by the dad of a girl with neurological mutism.Naturalism.Org
Blog home of the Center for Naturalism – a resource, by prominent philosophers and scientists, for the naturalistic worldview. Includes philosophical and ethical issues.NHS Blog Doctor
Medical blog by British doctor; Brit-centric content.Obsidian Wings
Group blog for general political issues, with a balance of liberal and conservative bloggers; bioethics covered by the outstanding “hilzoy”.Open Letters
A blog consisting of open letters to various entities regarding things the writer thinks should change. Interesting!Our Bodies, Our Selves
Official blog of the famous women’s health manual!Our Truths/Nuestras Verdades
English/Spanish online magazine that presents “the diversity of experiences with abortion”Pandagon
Group blog with feminist stance and a focus on healthcare and reproductive health issues.Pea Soup
Ethics and philosophy blog by a large group of academics.Prejudice and Civil Rights Watch
Ranty blog about mental health advocacy; Virginia-centric.ProLife Blogs
Meta-blog of news and blog posts with pro-life perspective.Prometheus: Science Policy
Science topics and science policy of public interest.Public Health Press
Public-health blog focusing on current issues.Ragged Edge Magazine
Online magazine on disability issues.Reproductive Rights Blog
Reproductive healthcare ethics and policyRespectful of Otters
General-issues blog with emphasis on psychology and other health issues; blogged by a psychologist.Roe Depot
Women-run BBS providing resources and information on abortion and related issues, for women in need.Science Blogs
Excellent aggregator of many science blogs, organized by subject; includes ethics & policy.The Ethical Werewolf
Musings from philo-blogger Neil Sinhababu.The Health Advocate
Group blog on health advocacy.The Melancholic Feminista
Feminist blog with frequent health-related posts.The Well-Timed Period
Reproductive health and women’s issues, especially birth control and menstrual regulation.Unified View
Ethics blog by a student in law at Oxford University.